Mino Raiola Health Updates: Football SUPER AGENT Mino Raiola survives health scare, which players does he represent? Check out SUPERSTAR clientele of Mino Raiola

Mino Raiola is one of the most powerful figures in football, responsible for handling stars such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Matthijs de Ligt and Romelu Lukaku.

Who is Mino Raiola?

Raiola is a so-called ‘super agent’, and past and present clients of his include the aforementioned Ibrahimovic, De Ligt, Pogba and Lukaku as well as the likes of Mario Balotelli, Hirving Lozano, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Moise Kean, Blaise Matuidi and Lorenzo Insigne.

In football, a super agent is the term used to describe someone who is extremely effective at their job and are able to earn a salary of millions, wielding considerable power and influence in the market.

Acting as the intermediary who handles the business between a club and a player, agents are required to negotiate contracts and salary, oversee lucrative sponsorship deals, organise media appearances and provide journalists with interview access.

Agents such as Raiola boast comprehensive client profiles that include the most influential stars and the biggest earners in the sport. Raiola’s roster and reputation, as well as his negotiation skills and contacts, marks him out as a powerful individual for clubs to deal with.

Mino Raiola Health Updates: Football SUPER AGENT Mino Raiola survives health scare, which players does he represent? Check out SUPERSTAR clientele of Mino Raiola

He closed the then world-record transfer of Pogba to Manchester United in 2016 while also making a profitable return himself, pocketing a reported €25 million (£22m) for the France international’s €105m (£92m/$117m) move.

According to GOAL, he was born in Italy but raised in the Netherlands, Raiola got his career to a start by expanding his parents’ restaurant business.

Having not had the chops to make it as a professional footballer himself, Raiola was appointed Haarlem’s sporting director at just 19 years of age after the club was so impressed by his entrepreneurial skills.

Following his time at Haarlem, he moved into work at sports agent company Sports Promotions and assisted in the transfers of high-profile Dutch footballers to Italian clubs, including Ajax player Bryan Roy (to Foggia in 1992), Marciano Vink (to Genoa in 1993), Wim Jonk and Dennis Bergamp (to Inter in 1993) and Michel Kreek (to Padua in 1994).

Shortly after, he decided to leave the sports agency to form his own business, with his first major course of action overseeing the transfer of Pavel Nedved from Sparta Prague to Lazio following his stellar performance at Euro 1996.